Beth's Blog: Nonprofits and Social Media

I've upgraded my camera ... OMG, where's the off button?

Click To Play

Since I started video blogging, I have used the mpeg setting of a cheap digital camera - a Cannon SD800.  It's a wonderful camera, don't get me wrong.  I love it.    But, after working around limits to production values, I've been looking at other options.  I'm terrified of getting a big professional level camera - and can't afford it anyway.  So, what I thought might be the next incremental step:

• A small, portable camera that could fit in the palm in of my hand and was easy to whip out and capture something
• Captures on a SD card, but decent quality
• Excellent, stereo sound - the holy grail - an external plugin for a mic (thanks to David Tames I foud a holy grail of cheap microphone)

And, it had to be less than $750, ideally $600.  I did a lot of research ... The latter wasn't possible or not until I sell my current beloved camera on ebay.   I am now the proud owner of a Sanyo HD2. Yipee!  I couldn't wait until ...

It arrived.  I opened the box.  How exciting ... but wait a second.  This camera is actually a video camera and it is way different from what I'm used to ...  now I figure out how to use the damn thing!

How do you go about learning a new camera ... some people just pick up and shoot and they are instant experts.   I'm not like that .. I'm going to use the following strategies:

• RTFM ... but not cover-to-cover unless I'm having trouble sleeping.
• Nike:  Go out and shoot it .. go play.   Even if I lack inspiration or I haven't planned it, I've got to go make some media.   Hmm .. I've got a good reason to participate in video blogging week.
• Get a friend to give you a tutorial.  It just so happens -- a little bird told me that someone else I know has one of these too.

You don't have to read the rest, just crap for my learning journal:

-Used normal mode
-Used external mic - volume set too loud in camera - need to adjust or do editing.
-They were out of battery chargers, that sucks ..

Teacher Tube: Fear of YouTube? Fear of Technology?

Several months ago, Alan Levine (cogdog blog) put up a video in YouTube called "I didn't Know You Could Do That With YouTube"  for a K-12 technology conference.  I responded with this video.  The videos were part of an educator's group and there was this response from Karen Richardson and expressed frustration about how YouTube is blocked.   This got me curious about the educational content on YouTube and Harry and I did some guided research for clips about earthquakes related to a school project.   I was thinking at the time, wouldn't it be cool for a youtube just devoted to instructional and educational videos?  Like the ones I'm interested in making and sharing.

I discovered "TeacherTube" last night:

TeacherTube is an online media property for people to watch and share Education videos worldwide through a Web experience for everyone.

I got very excited because the first thing I stumbled upon was a screencast on using the free capture tool camstudio which I just added to my screencasting primer!  About ten minutes later, in an act of kismet, I got an email via YouTube from a teacher at middle school asking me to join TeacherTube and upload my videos.  I went back and discovered the video from CoolCat Teacher.

FreeVlog MakeOver! Wow!

If you want to learn how to do video blogging, Freevlog is the best!  And, it's gotten even better!   They've just updated the tutorials and screencasts.   And, if you're interested in screencasting, you'll get lots of inspiration and ideas for presentation techniques.  (Psst .. Ryanne told me about a new MAC tool for screencapture too ...)

Will this video editing software also do my laundry?

 

I'm in the process of preparing material for the Screencasting Session at NTC (BTW, I'm presenting with Ian Miller from C3 who is sponsoring the NTC Video Contest last call). 

After thinking about this for a while, I boiled it down to two metaphors.  A) The Hollywood Movie  B) Home movies to document something important.  You can create screencasts using both approaches.  But now I'm challenged to create a screencast equivalent to a home movie with half-decent production values and that can be made quickly and without a huge investment of time.  And, have the end user learn something.

Is there a way?   Yes, an email from Steve Garfield this morning.

Thought you'd be interested in hearing about how a computer can do editing for you.
--Steve

It was a pointer to this service. (Steve played it the software and created this video)

In order to justify a potential jump down a rabbit hole (it wasn't), I decided to make a screencast of me trying the software for the first time.  No script.  No hours of editing until perfection.  Just, let's capture the moment.

I think that is where the power of screencasting for nonprofits lies.  Capturing the moment without worrying about having professional, hollywood production values.  Yes, there needs to be appropriate production values for the situation (see here and here)  In this case, I'm talking about maybe showing the screencast in-house.   But, it doesn't necessarily have to take hours and hours and hours of editing time. 

Yes, for artist types like me - I would eventually want more artistic control -- but for busy nonprofit staff members who need to save the world and provide technology documentation - this might be a useful way to get started quickly with a half decent looking video.

In terms of the home-movie approach to screencasting, as you can see I didn't spend a lot of time scripting, storyboarding, zooming, additing titles or arrows, etc.   No rehearsal either.  Just click record and go.   I did go back and add a few zooms because of the video size. 

Credits:  Music from CCmixter Mystro Soul

David Tames's Excellent Video of the Production Values Discussion

 

David Tames is a filmmaker, podcaster, media technologist, strategist, and designer who has worked as a producer, director, editor, or cinematographer on numerous film, video, web, and multimedia projects.  He completed work on Remembering John Marshall (as co-producer, co-director, co-editor), a short documentary that has screened at several festivals.  He not only facilitated a discussion at the Sunday Boston Media Makers meeting, but he was also shooting video and recording it.

He edited the above short little video of the discussion while on the train to New York and uploaded it to blip.tv while visiting blip.tv As he notes in an email, "something poetic about that" or geekily recursive.

What I liked about the short is that demonstrates the techniques he was talking about during the discussion, particularly the shooting of b roll and reaction shots.  I also like the panning and slow zoom on the stills, (which of course I can't do in MovieMaker ..)

Next month in Washington, DC at the NTC Conference, I designed a session on video blogging for nonprofits.  It will include a introductory session (show and demo techniques) and the afternoon will be a drop-in clinic.

Session Leaders:
Jay Dedman
Ryanne Hodson
Jonny Goldstein
Andy Carvin

I recently found an interesting article called Who Has Time for Video?  I tagged this article because I think it is an important consideration for an organization thinking about video blogging ... knowing what "plays" well in video and what doesn't. 

Some content is going to be very well suited to video -- but other content will be better when it's delivered in other, more appropriate formats. We've got to have open discussions about when video is a good choice and when it is not.

 

 

Participatory Campaigns: The Hold A Sign Meme

The youtube video is from Star Bucks Campaign.  There was also a flickr component that I learned about this from the wonderful Heather Gardner-Madras, who like me, is a flickr fan.  She posted a pointer on the NTEN Nonprofit Flickr Affinity Group list today.

Here is a great example of the innovative new things we can do with Flickr in terms of advocacy and leveraging the social community there: Starbucks Campaign

She points out why she likes the campaign:

1 – (not that this necessarily applies to Oxfam) but its super low budget by using existing infrastructure and orgs of any size could really raise their profile and provide an intense interactive opportunity for supporters this way.

2 – it takes advantage of the established Flickr community’s interest to education and engage new audiences

3 – I personally really like any activism that includes individual expression like this (like www.sorryeverybody.com) If someone gets out the crayons and makes a sign, they are definitely engaged in your cause.

Tim Fullerton from Oxfam America - who organized the campaign and will be speaking about at NTC - shared the URL of the YouTube video.  Maybe he share some reflections in the comments - like for example - about the making of the video which is quite good in terms of production values, although not glossy campaign video.

Britt Bravo who is also the Flickr Affinity Group wrote about Oxfam America Campaign here

Just last week, Lee Romeo, posted something over a Netsquared about a similar use of flickr - people holding signs.   This has also been done by NTEN and Netsquared.  And, there was a protest against Target using that technique (holding signs) although it was not on flickr: http://www.saveroe.com//campaigns/target/photos

This is a fun meme for user=generated content -- Take a photo of yourself with sign or message related to our campaign or cause.   I'm reminded of the March of Dimes - flickr contest - that asked people to photograph where they kept their change because a handful of change is what preemie weighs at birth.

What creative twist could your organization do with this technique and support your cause/work?

I read a post about user-generated content from the fresh+new blog which is focused on new media in museums.  It describes various sub-groups of consumer co-created content.

Consumer-generated media (CGM) multi-media (CGM2): First-person commentary posted or shared across a host of expression venues.

Consumer-fortified media (CFM):  The business creates the content (ad), but the consumers provide the meaning.

Consumer-solicited media (CSM):  "Participatory media" -- that's what the flickr contests above are!

Compensated consumer-generated media (CCGM): That's where people get paid to create the content.  Not sure if this includes a cash prize.

Paid media: Old advertising model

Video Blogging in Nonprofit Sector in the UK

This clip of David Cameron enroute to make a  speech at National Council for Voluntary Organisations about "What can voluntary bodies, charities and social enterprises do to tackle Britain's social problems?  This came from a roundup of examples of video blogging for ngos in UK by Miles Maier. And, of course, one can't mention the words UK and video blogging in the same sentence without pointing to David Wilcox's social reporting.

I wanted to capture these here as we prepare for the NTC Video GeekOut Session in four weeks.

I don't have time at this moment to actually do this, but I am still reflecting on the comments that Steve Garfield made at the Sunday meeting at how you improve your work by looking at it critically.  You could also do the same by looking at the work of others and asking questions.  Say, perhaps, to create some questions related to the production values:

• Is there passion?
• Does the video tell a compelling story?  How and why?
• Is the sound quality good enough so it isn't distracting and still engages you?
• Is there emotional resonance?
• Is the editing smooth from cut to cut?
• What about the composition of shots?

My Learnings from the Boston Media Makers Meeting

 

Click here to play video

The Boston Media Makers meeting on Sunday was inspiring.  I met a lot of fantastic videobloggers as well as learned a lot through the discussion on production values facilitated by David Tames.  I made a mini-documentary of what I learned.  Some techniques that I learned about that I want to put into practice in future work:

• Capturing secondary audio with an external mic and recorder and then synching them during the editing process.  Requires a mic, recorder, and some more skills with editing. 
• Shooting to edit, particularly conversations.  Remember to capture both the speaker and people listening.  Thinking like a cinemagrapher.
  
• Be able to capture "b" roll that I can actually use.
• Editing between cuts/transitions.  How to make the transitions smoother without that annoying burp sound or without it abrupting stopping midstream.   

With these goals, I think that I'm beginning to feel limited by MovieMaker.   Yet, on the other hand, it offer some creative challenges.

For example,  I figured out a way to silence the audio in a "b" roll and replace it with a -over narrative.  Because there are only two audio tracks and the volume control adjusts the audio on both for the entire movie, this was hard to do.  (I put the clip into another project, turned off the sound, saved it as AVI and brought into the original project.)  Now that I know how to incorporate this technique into the editing, I need to keep this in the back of mind when in the field shooting.

With moviemaker, it is a pain to move around the little bits of audio, pictures and video in the timeline without the program crashing or completely messing things up.  I don't know if this a problem with moviemaker or whether I'm doing it correctly.

David has some excellent notes here and, as always, great photos here.   

I'm going to quote the notes from David verbaitem because he has summarized the key points much better than I could ever articulate at this moment and my text notes suffered because I was attempting to incorporate video capture:

All techniques (whether intentional or not) are part of our vocabulary as visual storytellers and communicators. When is it best to “shot and get whatever” and when might we want to worry about “production values” like “good” lighting, sound, framing, etc.? There are aesthetic and moral issues at stake in this issue. When should we use the aesthetic conventions and tools of industry professionals and and when should we “do our own thing”?

It’s often a question of what is appropriate vs. what is inappropriate for a given message. Much videoblogging is intimate vs “professional” media which is often “detached.” We spoke about low quality vs high quality, and discussed the examples of the “mistakes” in Jean-Luc Godard’s Dreathless in the form of jump cuts were actually an excellent aesthetic technique for creating a particular mood or feel.

Phillipe Lejeune remided us that what’s most important is passion, the desire to do what you’re doing. I have to say this is one reason I find this particular group (which has a mix of everything from novices to professional media makers) more interesting that most, everyone here, regardless of their skill level in media making, is driven by something that’s important to them. Phillipe’s words really resonate, especially in the current context.

Beth suggested we come up with a priority list in terms of what components of production values are most important for effective communication/sharing/conveying what we want to say, we came up with something like this:

• 1. Story, message, passion, you have something to say;
• 2. Record good sound (this is the basis of your viewer’s emotional response to your piece; 
• 3. composition and camera work (some rules of thumb that make expression more efficient includes: the rule of thirds, which is based on the golden triangle/mean/spiral;
• 4. Editing, including basic rules about eye-line and eye-level match (related to rule of thirds), making cuts seamless or noticeable, depending on your intent; and
• 5. Shoot for the edit, shot in a way that makes it easy to cut things together, for example, get coverage (alternative angles) of what you’re shooting. Now cutting makes things less “truthful” so how you cut involves a moral dimension. Uncut footage subliminally feels like you were there and can sense the “truthiness” but on the other hand, seamless cutting does the same thing. This goes back to the old argument in film theory between Andre Bazin (who favored little cutting and wide shots) and the more formalist filmmakers who were really into expression, form, and editing.

In the end, “technical resolution” is not what is really important, what’s important is “emotional resolution”. Most of what you need to do to communciate effectively is not expensive.

The meeting also included Steve Garfield's demo of video editing on the cell phone.  That's his still I used in the cover of the video blog piece.   The video also uses some excellent stills by Bryan Person as well as by David Tames.  There's some additional photos from Chris Brogan (discovered after I finished editing ... he he )

What makes a gathering of media makers very interesting is the multiple moment capture can be shared via blogs, flickr, and other places.   It makes going back and reconstructing a story, incorporating the varous bits and pieces, an intersting way to construct your own knowledge.  This makes me think about how to incorporate this technique into my live blogging practice.  One lesson already is to be more thorough with your search for captured content - like is there tag being used .. and try to hunt down their flickr accounts.   Gives some more motivation to card exchange and networking at face-to-face gatherings.

Boston MediaMakers Meeting

Bryan Person taking a photograph of another media maker taking a photograph of another of  Boston media maker

I am sitting in the monthly Boston Media Makers meeting and there are like 30 incredible people in the room introducing themselves.   The notes are here.  I met Adam Weiss who just went through the process of setting up google apps with domain name for this site and he has agreed to do an interview to share what he learned.

$100 Digital Video Camera

Via post by Jay Dedman on video bloggers community list.

Remember when those disposable video cameras came out last year? Someone in MAKE even shows how to hack into it so you coould use it over and over again. here's the next version

Watch the totally cheesy video! Its got a pretty awesome flip out USB plug....like a switchblade. it costs about $125. (should be under $50).

This would be a cool thing to do:  Get 20 of these cameras and put them in the hands of the Sharing Foundation college scholarship students, have them learn some video, and set up something like this.

Someday ...

Production Values, Do They Matter?

That's on the agenda for the Boston Mediamakers meeting this Sunday.  I posed a question on the video bloggers list about how to get good audio.   David Tames offered some great tricks here.   He's leading the discussion on Sunday.

David kindly pointed me to the online discussion and some tips from Arin Crumley.  I had asked him for some suggestions on improving upon my sloppy editing techniques.  He shared this advice:

In some ways the sloppiness and the intimacy is part of the charm...  don't make it too perfect... there's something nice about spontaneous, casual, intimate utterances.

Also, I see Johnny made a comment, in terms of interviewing, I've got some notes on my blog here on the interview that you might find interesting, they are really about long form documentary type interviews, like the ones I did for "Remembering John Marshall"  but much of it applies to short journalistic interviews too, the boundaries are much more fluid between the two... the real difference I see between documentary interviews and journalistic interviews is documentary filmmakers have for the most part a strong point of view and they also are going more in depth with their subjects, for example, Alice spent at least an hour on the phone prior to each interview we did on camera, and the interviews were done, some in 45 minutes, others took three hours. I could blog for a year with the material we shot for "Remembering John Marshall" but instead we cut it into a 16 minutes film. Old media style. But who knows, we're working on a feature length version and I might put out some of the interviews in a video blog in support of the longer film. But I'm starting to ramble off topic.

I've got to find a sitter so I can go on Sunday.

Associations on YouTube

 

A hat tip to Ed Schipul who asked, " Does anyone know of any associations using videos on youTube (or similar) for association best practices?" and a round of applause to Sharron who pointed us to the above video example.

Some notes included: The Gallaudet University Alumni Association is brilliant in using youTube to speak to it's constituents.  Since the school is founded on the principle of teaching Deaf people in their native language - American Sign, their newsletter is now offered through YouTube so it too can be delivered through American Sign rather than the written word which often considered second choice by many Deaf.

BBC does deal with YouTube - Educational Group on YouTube

via Steve Elbows from the Video Bloggers Community:

Signed a deal that involves 3 youtube 'channels' of BBC content, one of which wont be available in the UK due to advertising:

full article here

Signs of a progressive attitude towards copyrighted stuff too:

"Mr Highfield said the BBC would not be hunting down all BBC-copyrighted clips already uploaded by YouTube members - although it would reserve the right to swap poor quality clips with the real
thing, or to have content removed that infringed other people's copyright, like sport, or that had been edited or altered in a way that would damage the BBC's brand.

"We don't want to be overzealous, a lot of the material on YouTube is good promotional content for us," he said. "

UPDATE:  read what marshall has to say

Via Steve McCarty

For active vloggers considering the educational possibilities, I'd like to invite you to join the YouTube Educational Group, to discuss pedagogy and to contribute representative videos:


Incidentally, let me call your attention to the following event in Nagoya, Japan on March 24th, which may have an online dimension: Wireless Ready: Podcasting Education and Mobile Assisted Language Learning: http://wirelessready.nucba.ac.jp

Jonny Goldstein's Shooting Techniques

 

Click to play

I'm pleased to present my fourth installment in my interview series with famous video bloggers about video blogging techniques that nonprofits or others might use.  Past subjects have included  Nick Booth, Steve Garfield, and Robert Scoble.   In this segment I interview Jonny Goldstein  about how to shoot video without shooting yourself in the foot in the editing room.   The interview took place during during Beyond Broadcast

When I first started to make video blog posts, I had no idea how much my shooting techniques would impact the amount of time I would have to spend editing.  I quickly learned that you can create editing hell for yourself if you're not careful.  As I've come to discover various techniques while shooting interviews that save me time later in the editing room, I've also learned a lot by observing and interviewing other video bloggers. 

Jonny's tips include:

1.  In camera editing:  You edit in the camera as you go along.  You shoot something.  If it stinks, you delete and re shoot.  So that by the end, you just have good stuff in your camera.  Of course, that means you have learn how to use the editing controls of your camera.  And, with a tiny camera and I need magnifying glasses to read the controls.

2.  Keep a log:   As you're shooting, jot down where you captured good stuff.   That saves you time from having to go through an entire tape.

3.  Use a script:  Write out your questions in advance and this keeps you on track.  That way you know what you're going to capture.

When Jonny interviewed me, I noticed that he didn't explain off camera what he was going ask me on camera.  We discussed the pros/cons.   The benefit of not negotiating the interview off camera is that you get a certain energy.  The downside is that the person may not say what they're going to say succinctly or you may not gain their trust. 

I tend to negotiate off-camera.   Part of the reason for that is because of my cheap little cannon camera. I have to stick it in people's faces to get acceptable (to me) audio quality.   That can be a little instrusive for your subject.  So, I like let them know.

Speaking of good audio, I raised this question on the video bloggers listserv and David Tames (who took the photo stills in the video) offered some great tricks here.  Right now, with my camera, I had only used the trick of getting close to my subject or controlling the noise in the room.

This video also incorporates some cell phone movie footage taken by Michael Marcotte, a news director at a public tv station.  He told me at the time "in case you wanted another angle."   Ah, some more creative possibilities. 

If anything, the juxposition of the cell phone footage with my camera footage shows that my camera audio and visual quality looks and sounds great in comparison.  In fact, the audio in his clip is unacceptable to me, but  I had some problems editing with my free Windows moviemaker editing program. I had really wanted to do a over halfway into the clip, but the program is too limited. 

I would like to see how my camera audio and visuals (a cheap cannon) compare with the next level up. Not that I could afford to purchase one anyway, but just curious.

I think I'm ready to turn my attention to obsessing with the editing of the video in the editing program itself.   How to make smooth transitions between music and talking.  How to use more than one audio track.   

Nonprofits and Videoblogging: Janitors Own Words: Video from SEIU

In a few weeks, there will be a video blogging geekout session at NTC.  I'm the session designer and  I got a couple of rock stars from the video blogging community with us - Jay Dedman, Ryan Hodson, Jonny Goldstein,  Andy Carvin,  and Robyn Tippins to lead the session.   

So, over the last month, I've been looking for examples.  In the comments to a post, Jonny Goldstein, pointed me to the above video from SEIU in YouTube.  At Beyond Broadcast Conference keynote, Henry Jenkins, used the term "astro turf" to refer to "participatory media" made by big business.  Well, this example is no astro turf.  It's the real thing. It's authentic.

I was able to track down Anthony Jennings who is the  Web Site Specialist at SEIU. His job includes strategic planning, launching and maintaining web sites for the International and some locals.   I did a brief interview with him through YouTube to learn more about how they created the video.

1. How did the idea of using YouTube to message about your organization
come about?

We agreed You Tube should be used to showcase video when we decided to experiment with other forms of "emerging technology" like Digg, Flickr, etc.  It was an experiment to see if pushing SEIU in non-traditional areas for us would prove popular.

2. This particular video, was it produced by staff in-house or did you work with a videographer/production company?  How much time did it take?

Taping and interviews were done by a staff person. Editing was done by an outside contractor.  Taping and interviews were done in less than 24 hours. Post production was done in a few days.

3. How did you incorporate the use of video in your campaign?  What were the goals?  What were results?

Once videos were complete, they were posted as home page material, and a communique to local press in Houston was sent.  If any picked up on the story of the campaign, an email was sent to our activist list in Texas with a campaign update, a link to You Tube and a mention of the news coverage.  We got great coverage on the series of worker stories in the Houston janitors campaign ... Hundreds and hundreds of views of videos we told relatively few people about.  It encouraged us to put more resources behind producing fresh content and keeping You Tube in our arsenal.

4. What did you learn about using video/youtube that would share with others?

One thing we learned is You Tube is an easy way to get video out to people without also having to give them a crash course in what software to download to watch this QuickTime, or that Windows Media.  Anyone who has ever watched a broadcast news program (especially those owned by Newscorp) have heard of You Tube or MySpace.  They're familiar with it.  Once politicians started using it, it just because an automatic thing you do .. you have video, you post it on You Tube. Our challenge in the near future is to get ahead of the "hot new thing to do on the internet" and apply its utility to our campaign goals.

The Story of Daily Lives

Next Saturday in NYC is the NYC Grassroots Media Conference and I can't go as I'll attending the Beyond Broadcast Conference in Cambridge.  (No travel)   But, if I'd be seriously tempted to take the train to NYC just hear this session:

The Story of Daily Life: Connecting people through video collaboration "Using inexpensive digital cameras and the power of web distribution, we can now help groups around the world to record, distribute, and archive stories from their daily life. AliveinBaghdad.org, Swajana.com, and Livesinfocus.org are three great examples of video collaboration that could only happen through the internet. In this presentation we will show recent examples of these collaborations, discuss the problems and solutions , and walk you through the specific process of how to use free online tools to build powerful videoblogs."

The presenters are: Ryanne Hodson, freevlog.org; Sandeep Junnarkar, Livesinfocus.org; Markus Sandy, apperceive.blogs.com; and Jay Dedman, NODE 101

I noticed that the LivesInFocus project on life behind bars also made the First-of-its-Kind top ten list for personal fundraising campaigns.  Check it out here.

The examples here show the potential and power of using vlogging for nonprofits to tell their story and a great example of combing vlogging with personal fundraising.    BTW, 2 of the presenters, Jay and Ryanne, will be at the NTC Conference for the NTCvideogeekout session. 

New Media Literacy Site from MIT - and check out the great Vlog Tutorial!

From Steve Garfield's Flickr Stream

The new media literacies web site is working to integrate new media materials into compelling activities for K-12 students for use in or out of school.   Henry Jenkins is the Team Leader. 

There are tons of excellent resources here!  There is a fantastic how video blogging tutorial from Steve Garfield, John Barth, Jason Crow and Four Eyed Monsters.

The series covers the following topics:

   1. Welcome to Videoblogging
   2. Is Videoblogging News?
   3. Basic Production
   4. Community and Conversation
   5. Filmmaking 2.0
   6. Ethics and Ownership
   7. Vlogs As Citizen Media

A great example of Nonprofits and VideoBlogging: Ami Dar on YouTube

There are many nonprofit videos floating around video sharing sites, but  I've been prowling for excellent examples of nonprofit video blogging for the Video Blogging Geekout Session I'm designing for NTC in April.  We'll have some of the rock stars of the video blogging community leading it - Jay Dedman, Ryan Hodson, Jonny Goldstein,  Andy Carvin, and Robyn Tippins.

So, I was delighted to find another good example of a nonprofit organization using video blogging.  This example is from Amir Dar of the Idealist kicking off this week's meetings taking place during Imagine a Better World initiative.   

As an nonprofit leader, it probably takes enormous courage put yourself in front of the video camera, hit the record button, and then set it free on the Internet.  Believe me, I know what that is like.  This particular video illustrates how powerful it is to hear a personalized and authentic message from an organization's leader in their own words.   This isn't a glitzy over-produced organizational video show, it's speaking from the heart and it works!  Or at least, I think.

I'd love to know:

• How long did it take shoot, edit, and post this?
• How many takes?
• What has been the result?  (there are  2,263 views)
• What did you learn from incorporating video blogging into your campaign messaging/tools?
• What would you do differently?

In the comments to an earlier post about using video blogging for rich media capture, training, and authentic messaging, Jonny Goldstein points to this video from SEIU.   This is a slightly more produced, but still authentic.

Splashcast: Nonprofit Channel

Marshall Kirkpatrick pinged me about SplashCast .  It enables anyone to create streaming media 'channels' that combine video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds. These user-generated channels can be played and easily syndicated on any web site, blog, or social network page. When channel owners modify their channel, their content is automatically updated across all the web pages 'tuned' to that channel.

Using a variation of Ethan Zuckerman's advice of "point" don't advocate - I waited for someone to create a nonprofit channel.  Viola! See Britt Bravo's splashcast above!  Enjoy!  Another link for the NTC Video Geek Out session, I suppose.

Should we put our social media tools away and have a conversation?

 

Click here to view the video

Paul captured this moment brilliantly in text and digital stills here of David Wilcox and Nick Booth video blogging each other.  I had been thinking it was an isolated moment of geekily recursive silliness, but today I got a ping from Lucy Hooberman, also from the UK,  about a post she wrote that observes that so many people are live blogging conferences that it produces a lot of documentation of the event.

I especially liked this quote from  Reuters Chief Executive, Tom Glocer:

The technique (Live blogging) finally seems to have caught on in Davos. Everyone is blogging about what is going on in Davos to the point that no one has time to talk face-to-face anymore because they need to rush off and record the last great thought.

Inviting bloggers to Davos is a good thing as it means those not attending in person can participate in the discussion and it makes the whole thing a bit more informal. But by the time I arrived on Wednesday, there were already one million blog hits for “Davos 2007.” At this rate, we’ll all be able to stay home, prevent climate change and just send our avatars to Switzerland.

This calls to mind a debate in the educator community about some years ago about computer-mediated experiences - and how it is a (mostly) bad thing.  Has this view been changed by the pervasive Internet access?

Lucy goes on to muse about the etiquette of interupting a blogger while they are live blogging:

People are blogging so much  do they have time to talk to anyone, or each other? I noticed this first at TED last March. Is there a polite way to interrupt a blogger to say hello, or even try and talk? Guess you have to send a comment! At Netsquared last May Ethan Zuckerman spoke on a panel and blogged brilliantly at the same time - so he did have time for a chat in the corridor.  I think I am onto something.

And back to David Wilcox's posts about blogger actvists preparing for a conversation. So, the question isn't should we put down our social media tools and have a conversation?  I think it is how do we use our social media tools to extend the conversation and bring in other s both online and offline.   

Music in video:  Wonder Drums by porchcat

Compelling Examples of Video Blogging In A Nonprofit Context

Click To Play

I'm the session designer for the video geekout session at NTC and today is the deadline for the outline submission.  I got a couple of rock stars from the video blogging community with us - Jay Dedman, Ryan Hodson, Jonny Goldstein,  Andy Carvin,  and Robyn Tippins to lead the session.  It's been fun to bounce ideas back and forth with Jay and everyone, particularly in light of their extensive experience teaching folks video skills.

The learning goals are:

• To introduce the concept of video blogging as a way to document or share stories of a nonprofit's programs or work
• To provide hands-on entry-level skills in conceiving, shooting, editing, and publishing a simple video to a blog
• To answer any questions or point to additional how-to resources
• To help people make connections to other people who are interested in doing this work to give/receive peer support

I wanted to begin with viewing and debriefing some examples of video blogs by nonprofit or social change causes. These examples might include stories about clients or users of a nonprofit's programs, rich media documentation, social reporting at a conference, or other example.  I have no idea what these examples might be just now ...

So I was delighted to pop by Nancy White's blog where she points to:

Steven Parker is doing some cool stuff with video. Not only on his blog, Network Learning, but embedded into a wiki. Check out his Group Learning page where he walks us through how to facilitate a tech learning session! The rest of the wiki is also a great resource for those looking to integrate tech into learning -- or anything else. The stuff has "good bones" to be applied in varied settings.

This is an excellent example of "rich media" documentation.

https://sparker.wikispaces.com/Group+Learning

Interview Shooting Techniques from Nick Booth of PodNosh

Click to Watch Video

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to the UK to present a workshop on Social Media  with David Wilcox at the UK Circuit Riders Conference.   I also had a chance to meet Nick Booth from Podnosh, High Fibre Podcasting.  Nick is a journalist with a background in documentary making.  I asked him for some video shooting techniques for interviews and he kindly gave me and David some excellent coaching and shooting pointers.

My video blogging has mostly been about "moment capture" from professional conferences.  I am mostly live blogging with text and photos and then I capture a video clip or soundbyte from someone who was in the session, a speaker or participant.   As a beginner, I've only been able to think in sound bytes from a single shoot because I wanted to have the editing process be easy and efficient.   Nick gave me some tips on how to integrate interviewing techniques with camera angles that makes your editing work easy and could result in a better a good final product.

There is nothing like getting some one-on-one or small group coaching from a pro.  This is why I'm organizing a video geekout session at NTC -- we'll have some of the rock stars of the video blogging community with us - Jay Dedman, Ryan Hodson, Jonny Goldstein,  Andy Carvin,  and Robyn Tippins.
 

Music: http://ccmixter.org/media/files/mystro/5843

My NTC Session Planning Wikis ....

Click To Play

John Kenyon tells you why video blogging is useful for nonprofits.

John Kenyon was also at the LASA Circuit Riders Conference in Birmingham with me earlier this month.  We went to a pub with some David Wilcox and Nick Booth, ordered up a few rounds of drinks, and had a fantastic conversation about social media and nonprofits.  The type of conversation you have with your peers about your work that you can only have face-to-face.  I pulled out my video camera to do some moment capture. 

(John didn't know he was making a promo for one of my NTC sessions!  I also got some great video shooting tips from Nick Booth and observations from David Wilcox which will be coming soon.)

The NTC Conference is a little more than two months away and I'm really looking forward to conversations with colleagues and meeting others face-to-face for the first time.  While one might be tempted to discount the value of face-to-face gatherings when we have the Internet,  some of my most valuable connections and learning experiences have taken place "in real life" at the NTC.   There is just no replacement for face-to-face connections.

I've volunteered to be a session designer for two (yikes!) sessions and I'm in the process of organizing a third, an affinity group meeting!  I'll be collaborating with colleagues online to further plan our sessions and online materials.   So, in the spirit of thinking outloud, I'm sharing these works in progress here and welcome any comments or reactions.

#1.  Screencasting Panel

Those of us that provide technology support for nonprofits get asked a few questions over and over (and over and over) again. Screencasts are a great new way to answer simple how-to's and record the answers to those frequently asked questions for posterity. A recording of your , the image on your screen, and some additional elements, screencasts are perfect for explaining how-to's for your applications and other specific, tactical uses. In this session we'll explore some uses for screencasting, the tools you'll need to create one, and tips and tricks for making them work.

 Top Three Takeaways

1. A definition of screencasting, with real examples
2. Overview of the tools needed
3. Tips and tricks to make your screencasts successful

I'm lucky enough to be leading the session with Ian Miller Post-Production supervisor for See3
Communications who is both a MAC Geek and has extensive video production/editing experience.  I generally don't like to do traditional panels and we're tweaking the format a bit.  We're going to use an Interactive Presentation where we will walk folks through what, what, how, tools, and tricks.  We will then create a screencast, with audience participation, in the style of a cooking show.   (No, I probably won't do my Julia Child imitation ...)

I've created a wikitation site (presentation as wiki)  to house the presentation materials and for some basic primers/factsheets I hope to write. (All the research is done, you'll find links to my bookmarks on delicious)

#2 Video Blogging for Nonprofits

Seems like video is obsession this year - so the other session is going to be a geekout, hands-on session on video blogging for nonprofits.   Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson (well known video bloggers and authors of books on the topic) have will be leading the session, along with Andy Carvin and Jonny Goldstein, also accomplished video bloggers.  The session will be very hands-on, participants will be encouraged to their cameras, laptops, and clips.  I'm hoping that video blogging can be spread to the nonprofit sectors - as a way for organizations to tell their stories and document their work.  The latter is something dubbed "Rich Media" or "Social Reporting"   

This is a great opportunity to learn from some key learners in the video blogging field.   The planning wiki (very much a work in progress right now) is here.

#3 Flickr for Nonprofits Affinity Group Meeting

I'm the moderater for the NTEN online affinity group that focuses on Flickr for Nonprofits. (It's free and anyone can join, so if you are curious about nonprofit applications in flickr, come subscribe to the listserv and if you're going to the NTC, come join our meeting).  I read in the NTEN newsletter where there was call for Affinity Group Meetings.  So I sent out a trial balloon on the list and in our flickr group discussion area.

Here's the initial description and feedback so far:

The Flickr for Nonprofits Affinity group will meet in Washington, DC to share experiences, tips, and ideas about how Flickr can be used to support nonprofits and their programs.   We will discuss flickr, tagging, digital photography, flickr contests, participatory media campaigns, and much more.  We will also design a "Flickr Walk" to take place sometime during the conference.  We will also organize a flickr collaboration during conference, for example we might take digital photos of the event around particular themes and stream and project our photo stream so everyone at NTC can view it. 

Key takeaways include:

• an opportunity for us to meet face-to-face and talk about experiences/learnings using flickr
• share tips/best practices in a more indepth and meaningful way than we could online
• do or organize a flickr walk and other collaborative photo sharing project that documents the NTC conference in some creative way

Mental note to self:  I've never actually organized a flickr walk - has anyone?  Where do I find more information?

(Disclosure: For the past five years, I've been the (paid) organizer for the NTC Day of Service -- volunteer event for nonprofit techies to give back to local nonprofits the day before the conference. I've been involved with nonprofit techie community and early days of NTEN since about 1998-99 as volunteer.  They don't pay me to say nice things, I truly believe in the nonprofit technology community!)

Amazing Video Blogging Project In India: Must See

I'm addicted to Swajana which means “our people”. It’s a collaboration between an Indian and a U.S. video team.  This is so much what I'd love to see happen in Cambodia - to see a video of  daily life in a developing country through the eyes of people who actually live there. 

This week's installment is about Manthan (which means “churning”) and founded by Gaurav Sharma. It focuses on the rehabilitation of youngsters and adults by targeting to change their behavior pattern through the medium of theatre and dance. This NGO is at the initial stages of its development and is yet to be registered.  The site provides contact information.

This is very powerful for me.   I like how video blogging can build a bridge to the west for small ngos working in a developing country.

The U.S. team (Jay Dedman and Ryan Hodson) simply help to solve technical problems and do promotion. The Indian team chooses all the stories and does the production.

I'd sure love an opportunity to spend a whole day in a room with Jay Dedman and Ryan Hodson shoulder-to-shoulder and learn about this project and more video making skills.   So, I asked them if they would help lead a GeekOut session at the NTC Conference in DC in April, 2007. And, they said yes, along with  Andy Carvin and Jonny Goldstein.   

So, if you are a nonprofit techie and you want to make some movies with us -- leave a comment with your thoughts and questions. 

I'm also putting together a panel on screencasting along with Ian Miller from See3 Media.

Now, back to the session I'm working on for next week at Lasa.

Fight Hunger Announces Video Content Winner!

Last month I interviewed the Web Team over at Fight Hunger  I got an email from Cordelia SalterNour telling me that they've selected a winner for their video contest.

A little bit NPTech blog kismet, someone just the other day raised the question: "What's good or useful about user-generated content and what's just entertaining or cute?"

Cordelia's answer:

For us it's perfect - it combines all the messages we wanted to get across in a neat, engaging video. I think our experience demonstrates 100% that creative talent is out there and is equal to (if not better than) commissioned talent.

I think the video is very effective because the message is in a child's and the animation is well done.  It isn't too glitzy.  It's also an Internet video that I would show my own children.  It's never too early to educate them about the potential for social change.

The other entries are here.

UPDATE:  I asked Cordelia to share some of her lessons learned and I'm elevating them from the comments because they are very useful:

We had some really high quality coverage across many sectors but in the end had 14 entries.  This ties in with something that I think I saw in one of Beth's postings about there being a lot of "lurkers" out there but only a small percentage of people who actually deliver. 

The deliveries were great though so no complaints... but you should be realistic about how many people actually participate

Video is a new genre and there is no standard format. Some people wanted to submit in Powerpoint (which wouldn't have been very viral!) Be prepared for techy questions/problems and to help solve them to maximise your entries

You should also keep an eye on licensing and copyright.  We made it clear that our contest was using a Creative Commons License and recommended using Revver... but YouTube/Google are the most popular online video services and it's not clear whether they respect the Creative Commons Licenses

The best thing was to see the entries and to see how people are willing to creatively contribute to our cause.  I recommend it as a way of tapping into the creative talent of the socially conscious people out there.